This article aims to investigate the origin of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and its spatial distribution among CEE headquarters in national urban systems. The conceptual framework is based on discussion of the role of metropolises. To provide a broad geographical scope the ORBIS database has been used, and its value has been discussed. The analysis shows that headquarters in capital cities were still attracting the greatest amount of foreign direct investment as of 2013, even when considerations are set at the level of different types of activity sector.

Romania has experienced considerable growth in agritourism able to meet the demand for sustainable tourism generated on both domestic and European markets. A picturesque landscape, other unique features and cultural heritage have all acted directly to increase agritourism in the country. Against this background, the work detailed in this paper sought to employ a quantitative approach in assessing if the above development of agritourism correlated directly with financial assistance allocated under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Findings in fact point to a direct impact of funding disbursed under the CAP, while payments disbursed under the so-called second pillar are not found to have impacted on the growth of agritourism. Outcomes with the Epanechnikov kernel method highlight a significant shift in the subsidies allocated under the Common Agricultural Policy via its first and second pillars, with an increase in the total fund disbursed in 2013 as compared with 2007. Subsidies allocated via the second pillar of the CAP can thus be said to havehad a pivotal role in supporting investment in on-farm diversification, in this way achieving a partial integrationof farmers’ incomes in Romania.

The aim of this article is to present the dependence between the suburban development of housing estates and the transportation system. Relationships between the city and its surroundings depend on the road network and daily traffic. That is why in most cases cities ‘spread’ in a linear form – forming an ‘urban sprawl’ with a low density of development and long distances between housing and retail services. According to analyses, cities in Poland affect their outskirts in an ‘urban sprawl’ manner. The development of suburban housing dependent on communications leads to spatial conflicts. This article shows both the interdependence and consequences of this situation. The main methods used were statistical and spatial analyses and a case study.

The process of residential suburbanisation may cause changes in the age structure of the population as the age composition of in-migrants is younger than long-term residents. However, the demographic change associated with the second demographic transition as well as the co-existence of suburbanisation and reurbanisation of inner city areas may have ambiguous impacts on the age composition. The aim of this paper is to show changes in the age structure of the population in a post-socialist city in the light of suburbanisation using the example of the Kraków Metropolitan Area. In particular, we sought to show whether the intensive development of this process results in the inhibition of population ageing due to the influx of people in suburban areas along with the outward diffusion of the behaviours associated with the second demographic transition.

Suburbanisation represents one of the most important contemporary problems facing large urban agglomerations. An analysis of the development of urban agglomerations in Central-Eastern Europe, and especially Poland, leads to the observation that this problem is not particularly advanced in any of them. The aim of this article has thus been to examine how relevant it might be to consider the suburbanisation stage in large Polish agglomerations, as a permanent feature of the Klaassen/Paelinck and van den Berg models. Specifically, the article focuses on Poland’s seven largest agglomerations, though there is a particular emphasis on the Katowice conurbation. The essence of the study lay in the identification of differences in the population balance between these agglomerations, and above all, between their cores and outer zones. The study also included data on the structure characterising out-migrations. A consequence of the study was to draw attention to the apparent diversity of the Katowice conurbation, the only one in Poland to record a population decline in both the core area and the outer zone. This specificity was explained mainly by the drivers of polycentricity and post-industrialism. In other agglomerations, these elements were either absent altogether or were involved in separate shaping of urban regional space.

The paper analyses two interrelated fields: residential differentiation in the Vilnius metropolitan area on the basis of socio-economic status and of political alignment. Data from the 2001 and 2011 censuses were used to investigate socio-economic and ethnic segregation and data from the parliamentary elections of 2000 and 2012 were used for the analysis of political alignment. Indices of segregation and isolation were calculated, and the main occupational groups were used as a proxy for socio-economic status. GIS tools were used to visualise existing spatial differences. Though most indices indicated quite low levels of segregation, the situation was changing. The wealthiest and poorest groups tend to live more and more separately. The political preferences of the different social groups differ and differentiation of political field is increasing. The paper reveals socio-political spatial interrelations in the metropolitan area which have a unique ethnic structure. Our findings suggest that socio-economic structure is a major factor determining the degree of differentiation of electoral alignment in the metropolitan area. The different political preferences of the different ethnic groups could be related not simply to ethnicity but rather to socio-economic status.

Higher education has been perceived as a value, necessary for the process of societal development, as well as the development of individuals in post-socialist Europe. In this context, the paper aims to focus on Geography students and graduates to analyse their expectations for their futures in the discipline. Geography students are discussed here at Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia, but implications can be applied broadly. In particular, gender-based differences were revealed in Geography students' ambitions related to their future careers. Not surprisingly, attitudes of students and Geography teaching staff differ substantially in some aspects, including labour-market orientation of Geography curriculum. Lack of practical and business-related skills in existing curriculum might be a limitation of the graduates' labour prospects.

The study presents the delimitation of problem areas carried out at the Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization of PAS on behalf of the Ministry of Development of Poland (2015-2016), first and foremost to meet the practical needs of the development policy being pursued at state, regional and local government levels. The study was elaborated for the 2479 Polish communes (gminas) by reference to 21 indicators mainly concerned with the state of the natural environment and socio-economic conditions, as well as features of spatial and local development. The three categories of area ultimately identified were the natural, the social and the economic aspects, the combination of which yielded several main types of problem area. A last stage then entailed a division into regions, i.e. the designation and naming of particular geographical areas.